December 14, 2005: Headlines: 1960's: The Register-Guard: McCarthy deplored not only the war but the country's dispirited mood
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December 14, 2005: Headlines: 1960's: The Register-Guard: McCarthy deplored not only the war but the country's dispirited mood
McCarthy deplored not only the war but the country's dispirited mood
"It is a joyless spirit - a mood of frustration, of anxiety, of uncertainty. In place of the enthusiasm of the Peace Corps among the young people of America, we have protests and demonstrations. In place of the enthusiasm of the Alliance for Progress, we have distrust and disappointment. Instead of the language of promise and hope, we have in politics today a new vocabulary in which the critical word is 'war': war on poverty, war on ignorance, war on crime, war on pollution. None of these problems can be solved by war but only by persistent, dedicated and thoughtful attention."
McCarthy deplored not only the war but the country's dispirited mood
An antidote to cynicism
A Register-Guard Editorial
Published: Wednesday, December 14, 2005
A republic needs people like Eugene McCarthy, who emerged in that grand and awful year of 1968 to speak for a growing segment of the American people who had turned against the Vietnam War and found their views unrepresented in either major political party. Though he did not prevail in the end, his insurgency was a bracing antidote to cynicism.
McCarthy, a senator from Minnesota, entered the New Hampshire primary in 1968 and finished 7 percentage points behind President Lyndon Johnson. The result was interpreted as a rebuke to the incumbent, and three weeks later Johnson quit the race. McCarthy won a number of primaries, including Oregon's, but Johnson's withdrawal had opened the door to Robert F. Kennedy - who might have won the nomination had he not been assassinated after winning in California. Delegates to the Democratic convention in Chicago ultimately gave the nomination to Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who lost narrowly to Richard Nixon that November.
McCarthy is credited with having drawn a generation of otherwise alienated young people into politics. They were attracted by his willingness to speak plainly against the Vietnam War - but more than that, McCarthy represented the possibility of bolder, more optimistic politics. In a speech to the Conference of Concerned Democrats late in 1967, McCarthy deplored not only the war but the country's dispirited mood:
"It is a joyless spirit - a mood of frustration, of anxiety, of uncertainty. In place of the enthusiasm of the Peace Corps among the young people of America, we have protests and demonstrations. In place of the enthusiasm of the Alliance for Progress, we have distrust and disappointment. Instead of the language of promise and hope, we have in politics today a new vocabulary in which the critical word is 'war': war on poverty, war on ignorance, war on crime, war on pollution. None of these problems can be solved by war but only by persistent, dedicated and thoughtful attention.
"But we do have one war which is properly called a war - a war in Vietnam, which is central to all of the problems of America. A war of questionable legality and questionable constitutionality. A war which is diplomatically indefensible; the first war in this century in which the United States, which at its founding made an appeal to the decent opinion of mankind in the Declaration of Independence, finds itself without the support of the decent opinion of mankind ... a war which is not defensible even in military terms ... a war which is morally wrong."
These words are as fresh today as they were nearly 40 years ago. McCarthy died Saturday at the age of 89, having proved that a politician can speak to fellow citizens as adults and that there is honor to be found in political courage. Who today is his equal?
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Story Source: The Register-Guard
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